The invention relates to a searching method and system, and more particularly to a method and system for providing customers searching for a minimum discount off the price of a product or service in a geographic area specified by the customer, with information as to a store or service provider which is offering the product or service at such a discount in that geographic area.
When a customer desires to purchase a product or service, frequently the customer will investigate different forms of advertisement media in order to ascertain a supplier of the product or service (hereinafter generally referred to as just a xe2x80x9csupplierxe2x80x9d) offering the best price or for a minimum discount off the retail or wholesale price. Such investigation may take the form of, for example, reviewing newspapers for specific advertisements from suppliers, calling individual suppliers, searching Internet web sites, physically visiting a plurality of suppliers, etc.
The investigation clearly can take a considerable amount of time and effort for the customer. Moreover, typical advertising media, like newspaper inserts, sort the advertisements by the supplier and not by the product and discount first. For example, a single supplier of products (e.g. Macy""s) will typically list the products they have on sale in one circular. The customer must then search through each circular from each supplier to find the one product that the customer is interested in, and then determine whether that product is being offered at a discount desired by the customer.
Thus, prior art advertisements force the customer to first look through supplier""s advertisements and then for the product or service and discount. Sorting by product or service and discount first would save the customer a considerable amount of time. The customer knows the product or service and a desired discount, and desires to find a corresponding supplier of the product or service. Moreover, the customer would also save time if he or she could access an advertising medium which already has discounted products and services. In such a case, one criterion, that of obtaining a discount, is immediately satisfied (assuming that the customer requests, and this new advertising medium offers, a similar discount rate). However, the prior art is devoid of such functionality.
Further, there are frequently instances where a customer is interested in purchasing a product or service but can wait for the product/service to go on sale at a desired discount. Such a customer merely wishes to learn of a supplier which can provide the product or service at some desired discount rate and may wish to wait until such a supplier is available. Additionally, many customers wish to limit their searches to a specific geographic area so that the customer does not have to travel far beyond their residence.
Conversely, suppliers need to advertise their products or services as well as possible discounts on these products or services to try to reach perspective customers. Customers have access to these advertisements through the media mentioned above (i.e. newspapers, web sites, etc.). Suppliers also must invest a large amount of time and money in creating and disseminating the advertising media with respect to their products and services. An advertising agency may have to be employed which produces a further expense for the supplier. Further, suppliers have no avenue for targeting customers who are looking for specific sales on products or services which are being offered by the supplier. For example, a supplier offering a discount on a product/service may advertise that discount in one of the media mentioned above which may never reach the intended customer who desires that product/service (at the discount offered by the supplier). The production of the advertising media could also be very costly. The cost may be prohibitive for small businesses.
One prior art technique for matching customers and suppliers, like that shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,742,931 to Spiegelhoff et al., allows a customer to search a plurality of warehouses to find the warehouse offering a product at the lowest price. The warehouses each send product and price information to a resource allocation system which in turn compares and correlates this information for a customer. The customer then has the opportunity to order from the warehouse offering the lowest cost per unit item. However, in Spiegelhoff, the customer must make a purchase and desires to find to the most inexpensive approach. Also, the customer has no opportunity to narrow down the search by specifying a minimum discount that the customer desires for the product or to define a geographic area to which the customer is willing to travel.
Spiegelhoff thus does not accommodate customers who desire to purchase a product only if the product satisfies certain criteria relating to discounted price and geographic availability.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,873,069 to Ruehl et al. discloses a system which finds the lowest price for a particular product within a predetermined market. Again, there is no function for providing a customer seeking a specific discount for a product/service with information as to a supplier offering such a discount. Nor does Ruehl et al. provide for limiting the search to a geographic criteria.
Another prior art technique disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,946,655 to Suzuki et al. provides shopping information for a customer. A customer can enter products which the customer wishes to purchase and the system will indicate stores which sell those products. However, like the prior art discussed above, there is no opportunity for a customer to search for suppliers offering the product at a desired discount nor search within a specified geographic area.
Thus, there exists a need in the art for a method or system which can provide customers who seek a product or service at a specified discount in a desired geographic area with information relating to suppliers which are offering such a product or service at the specified discount in the desired geographic area.
One aspect of the invention is a method of matching a customer and a supplier. The method comprises the acts of receiving supplier information from at least one supplier, the supplier information including a supplier product/service, a supplier discount for the supplier product/service, and supplier contact information. The method further comprises receiving customer information from the customer, the customer information including a customer product/service; finding a matching supplier, from the at least one supplier, the matching supplier offering a matching supplier discount for the customer product/service, the matching supplier discount being at least a minimum discount. The method still further comprises sending the supplier contact information corresponding to the matching supplier to the customer.
In one distinctive feature of this first aspect of the invention, the act of receiving supplier information further includes receiving supplier geographic information indicating where the supplier product/service can be purchased. The act of receiving customer information further includes receiving customer geographic information indicating where the customer is willing to purchase the customer product/service. The matching act further includes matching a supplier whose supplier geographic information at least partially matches the customer geographic information.
Another aspect of the invention is system for matching a customer with a supplier. The system comprises a server coupled to a network and a supplier terminal, the supplier terminal sends supplier information relating to at least one supplier across the network to the server. The supplier information includes a supplier product/service, a supplier discount at which the supplier is offering the product/service, and supplier contact information. The system further comprises a customer terminal, the customer terminal sends customer information across the network to the server, the customer information including a customer product/service. The server receives the supplier information and the customer information and finds a matching supplier of the at least one supplier, the matching supplier offering a matching supplier discount for the customer product/service, the matching supplier discount being at least a minimum discount. The server sends the supplier contact information corresponding to the matching supplier to the customer terminal.
Yet another aspect of the invention is a server in communication with at least one customer terminal and at least one supplier terminal across a communication network, the server matching a customer using the at least one customer terminal and at least one supplier. The server comprises a storage device storing server software and a database, a network interface facilitating the communication, and a processor executing software code enabling the server to perform the function of receiving supplier information from the supplier including a supplier product/service, a supplier discount for the product/service, and supplier contact information. The processor further executes software which enables the server to perform the functions of receiving customer information from the customer including a customer product/service; finding a matching supplier from the at least one supplier, the matching supplier offering a matching supplier discount for the customer product/service, the matching supplier discount being at least a minimum discount; and sending the supplier contact information corresponding to the matching supplier to the customer terminal.
Still another aspect of the invention is a computer readable storage medium storing information relating to a discount for a product/service offered by a supplier. The computer readable storage medium storing data comprising a first field including product/service data comprising the product/service offered by the supplier; a second field including discount data; and a third field including supplier contact information of the supplier.
Yet still another aspect of the invention is a method for determining a supplier of a product/service offering the product/service at a desired discount. The method comprising the acts of searching a database for the desired product/service; searching the database for the desired discount for the desired product; and after the acts of searching, determining the supplier which offers the desired product/service at a supplier discount, the supplier discount being at least the desired discount.
Still yet another aspect of the invention is a method of matching a customer with a supplier. The method comprising the act of receiving supplier information from at least one supplier including a supplier product/service, a supplier geographic area where the supplier is offering the supplier product/service, and supplier contact information. The method further comprises the acts of receiving customer information from a customer, the customer information including a customer product/service and a customer geographic area where the customer is willing to purchase the product/service; finding a matching supplier, from the at least one supplier, the matching supplier being one of the at least one supplier which offers the customer product/service in the customer geographic area; and sending the supplier contact information corresponding to the matching supplier to the customer.